Not All Flood Risk is Equal

Rising Flood Premiums and a Property Owner’s Risk of Doing Nothing

Photo via FEMA.gov

If you are a property owner with a home or building in a high-risk flood zone and are required to carry flood insurance, don’t wait for the sticker shock of a renewal notice, now is the time to be proactive. A property owner’s best weapons to combat rising flood premiums are education and a Flood Fairness Check, a thorough evaluation of a structure’s exposure to flooding.

Just knowing a property’s location on a map is not enough. This limited information leads many to minimize the importance of real estate value, mitigation measures, and allocation of insurance expenditures. The price property owners -residential and commercial, alike- pay for flood insurance relies on too broad a view of exposure to flooding versus the individual structural characteristics, which give an accurate assessment of flood risk. These features include a structure’s design, elevation, and flood proofing techniques.

No matter your location throughout the United States, if you are subject to lender-imposed coverage, you not only have a right to be concerned about rising flood premiums, but also a right to an accurate assessment of the property’s risk.

The following excerpts from a KGAN report further demonstrate why flood risk education is critical.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “The discount premium structure in place did not allow the NIFP [sic] (National Flood Insurance Program) to generate sufficient revenue from policyholders to cover the losses experienced from hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012). As a result of the losses experienced in those events the NIFP now carries $24.6 billion in debt to the Department of Treasury.”

Huge losses prompted the program to change who it deems as high risk or non-preferred.

… “Effective this year you were seeing increases that go up to 18% per year for standard home flood policy and then for non-primary residences or businesses they’ll increase up to 25% each year and that will continue until the true risk rating is found,” says Graybill [Mitch Graybill, Personal Lines Supervisor at Millhiser Smith Agency].

Now as some NIFP regulations are set to expire even bigger changes are likely ahead.

Those will likely, as all changes do when it comes to insurance, will have a trickle-down effect that will drastically affect the consumer more than anything.

AmeriFlood Solutions, Inc. provides flood risk education and three vital tools for property owners to obtain an expert and independent opinion on the actual flood risk of a home or building in a high-risk flood zone. All tools, including the Flood Fairness Check for single-family homeowners, reveal if the flood policyholder pays too much, not enough, or should not be paying at all for the cost of coverage.

The Flood Fairness Check is a service from AmeriFlood Solutions, Inc. (AFSI) that determines if a property is a low-moderate risk versus a high risk (structures most vulnerable to flooding and rising flood premiums).

If your lender requires flood coverage, you have not filed a flood claim on the property, and the structure is not a mobile home, take advantage of the Flood Fairness Check. It includes a free evaluation and $350 reclassification fee if the property’s high-risk flood zone designation is wrong. The fee is contingent upon successful reclassification approved by FEMA. Learn more and submit your single-family home details for a Flood Fairness Check here.

Want to minimize the sticker shock of rising flood premiums? Don’t wait for a renewal notice, become proactive about flood risk today!

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR EASTERN MARSHALL...SOUTHEASTERN ROSEAU AND NORTHWESTERN BELTRAMI COUNTIES UNTIL 100 PM CDT... At 1226 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along a line extending from near Casperson to near Espelie. Movement was northeast at 35 mph. Nickel size hail and winds in excess of 40 mph will be possible with

The National Weather Service in Missoula has extended the * Flood Warning for... Bitterroot River near Missoula in... South central Missoula County in west central Montana... Northern Ravalli County in west central Montana... * Until further notice.

The National Weather Service in Missoula has extended the * Flood Warning for... Bitterroot River near Missoula in... South central Missoula County in west central Montana... Northern Ravalli County in west central Montana... * Until further notice.